Over the past few years, the Turkish defense industry has focused its research and development efforts on a range of new weapons systems, driven by the goal of an overall technological modernization of Turkey’s armed forces. In the process, defense exports have doubled, demonstrating that Turkish defense firms also have the potential to impose themselves on the global market.

Turkish defense companies, backed by Turkish diplomats, have signed a number of high-profile export deals in 2011. Earlier this year, Turkish President Abdullah Gul’s official visit to Indonesia — which, with a majority Muslim population of 246 million, is likely to become one of Turkey’s strategic allies in Southeast Asia — brought contracts worth $400 million. Meanwhile, Malaysia, one of the world’s largest arms importers, inked a $600 million deal to set up a Turkish-Malaysian partnership that will produce more than 200 armored vehicles. More recently, BMC, one of Turkey’s leading producers of armored vehicles, announced it will soon start exporting one of its models to Iraq and Afghanistan. Moreover, several African countries have shown a growing interest in Turkish defense equipment: A Turkish delegation including representatives from the government and leading defense firms recently paid visits to Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya, and new deals seem to be in the offing. (…)

FOLLOW ME ON

Contacts

francesco.milan [at] kcl.ac.ukffmilan [at] yahoo.it

Subscribe

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.